A blog about genealogy and thoughts about the various roots and branches of my family tree as well as the times in which my ancestors lived.Included are the West, White,and McFarland families.WARNING:DO NOT TAKE ALL OF MY FAMILY RECORDS AS GOSPEL. ALWAYS CONFIRM YOUR OWN RESEARCH!

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Sunday, January 31, 2010

1) Open your genealogy software or family tree program of choiceand make yourself the highlighted person.

2) Find out how to create a Calendar to show birthdays and/oranniversaries of yourself and all of your ancestors (or all relatives,or all persons - your choice!). The "Help" button is your friendhere!!! It can be done in all of the current software programs.3) Create your calendar. Pretty it up if you want. Save it. Canyou show us a page from your calendar - say January 2010?4) Which of your ancestors (or relatives, or descendants - yourchoice!), if any, were born on 30 January? Have fun with this. How can you use this information during the coming year?

Iregularly use the Calendar function in RootsMagic4 and PersonalAncestry File to help generate blog posts so I figured this would bea breeze!I created two calendars in less than 15 minutes and gotready to upload them here to Blogger.

And that's where the ummm... fun...began. Blogger takes jpg files.But RM4's calendar is in PDF format, and the PAF is in rich txt.It's taken me most of the day(except for my break to go to thelaundrymat) to get the RM4 converted. And I still don't know whatI used to do it. It's all a blur. I know I swore.

I swore a lot, actually!

Since I'm posting this on the 31st, I'm going to recognize ananniversary instead of a birthday. Today is the 145thanniversary of my ancestors Jonathan Phelps West andLouisa Almata Richardson who were married on 31Jan 1865!

Friday, January 29, 2010

I mentioned in the last post possible connections between LeonidasWest's wife Valora Abbott and other lines in my family tree. WheneverI run across anyone with the name Abbott in my research I checkto see if they share my descent from George Abbott (1615-1681)andHannah Chandler (1630-1711) of Andover, Ma. Valora's father OtisHowe Abbott was born in Andover but from everything I've found sofar he was not decended from George but from Thomas Abbott froma different Abbott family. But there are other connections betweenmyself and Valora Abbott.

Her 2x great-grandfather John Abbott was married to Hannah Farnum(Farnham), daughter of Jonathan Farnum and Elizabeth Barker. Throughthem Valora shares my descent from Ralph Farnham and Richard Barker,both of Andover. Ma.

Valora's mother was Sarah Merrill Emery and through her we sharedescent from John Emery and Thomas Colby.

I'm not sure what degree of separation there is between myself andValora yet. I haven't entered all this into PAF or RM4 yet to calculate it.What struck me is that all these connections came through my grandmotherCora Berthella Barker's line, so even before she married my grandfatherFloyd E. West Sr there were remote family ties between them!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

This is the latest in a series of posts about the descendants of thechildren of John Cutter West and Arvilla (Ames) West in the hopesit will put me in contact with some of my unknown distant cousins.

John and Arvilla's eighth child was their fourth daughter ArvillaElecta West who died unmarried at the age of seventeen during thediptheria epidemic of 1862. (you can read about it here))

Their ninth child was Leonidas West, their fifth son. Leonidasmarried Valora Abbott in 1872 and holds the distinction of beingthe first West family member(that I know of) to leave New Englandand head west, living for a time in Minnesota before moving on toWashington state. I don't know for sure what prompted the move.Leonidas was a Civil War veteran; perhaps there was a land granthe took advantage of using? More likely is that he might have justbeen looking for work in farming or thew lumber industry.

I had some information on Leonidas and his children to start outwith and found more online including cousin Zac Anderson's familytree over on Ancestry.com:

This concludes the series on the descendants of the children ofJohn Cutter and Arvilla (Ames) West.(Their two youngest children,Ruth Ellen and David Pingree West perished in the diptheriaepidemic.) I've tried not to include living members of the familiesout of respect for their privacy and security. I apologize if I'veinadvertently listed them here.

I'll post some thoughts and corrections on the whole series soonand I'm in the process of looking into a connection betweenValora Abbott and others of my ancestors.

* Tell us about your "other" hobbies or interests outside of genealogyand family history research, writing, speaking, etc.* Write a blog post of your own, respond with a comment to this post,or add a comment on the Facebook version of this post."

Well, I'm a rabid Red Sox and Patriots fan and I enjoy Celtic musicbut there's one interest that's been consistent in my life since thethird grade.

I've been an avid reader of sf and fantasy since I was eight yearsold. That was the year we moved from Malden to Boston and Iwas suddenly in easy walking distance to three branches of theBoston Public Library.The librarian at the Codman Square Libraryturned me onto Andre Norton and I was hooked on science fiction.About the same time my folks bought me a copy of "King Arthurand the Knights of the Round Table", which eventually led me tofantasy. For the past fifty years or so I've been buying and readingbooks set in the far future or in magical worlds. At one pointI was a member of the Science Fiction Book Club and was getting abox of books every month from them. Once when I went to the localpost office I heard myself referred to as "the guy who orders thatBuck Rogers stuff."

One outgrowth of that was that eventually I got into online roleplay.By "eventually" I mean about twelve years ago when I wanderedinto an Arthurian themed roleplay channeland where many of theother players were about my age. (A lot of baby boomers had missedthe D&D explosion which had occurred after we were out of school.).

And the roleplay led me into writing stories and poetry about mycharacters, which resulted in two of my poems being published byRenaissance Magazine last fall!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Three years ago after discovering the geneablogging communityI set out to write my own blog---and failed.

Yes, now it can be told. My first geneablog was a failure. I was newto this whole idea and started out enthusiastically and wrotefive posts within a few days for my blog which I'd namedWest of New England. But when I went to add a new post a dayor so later, I discovered I couldn't recall the password for the blog.After about a half an hour I gave up and just recreated the blog.I'd saved what I'd written so I created a new blogger accountand started a new geneablog, West in New England. And that's whythe first five posts are all dated Jan 23,2007.

It's been a fun three years. I've enjoyed being part of the geneabloggercommunity, both in reading so many great blogs and in sharing whatI've discovered about the many branches of my family tree. Thispast year has fairly been productive for me because of all of therecords I've found online that provided so much blogging material, somuch so that I'll soon hit post #700.

I want to thank all those who read West in New England and especiallythose who've given me feedback through comments and emails. I reallyappreciate that.

I hope all of you have enjoyed reading this blog as much as I am enjoyingwriting it!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

For the 89th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Jasia over atCreative Gene has given us poetic license:

"This time around we'll be composing a poem that tells our family's history. It can be long or short, rhyme or not rhyme, funny or serious, illustrated or not... you choose, but make it appropriate as an introduction for a bookor video on your family history. The challenge is on! The deadline for submissions is February 1st, 30 submissions accepted."

I have to admit to a lack of self-confidence here. I've written poetrybefore but rarely on a set topic or with a deadline. The last time Idid one like this was something I wrote for one of Randy Seaver'schallenges. But making it the introduction to a book about my familyhistory did help. I've always thought of my family as being one ofthe many that came to this country and whose work helped formthe foundation of a new nation, so that's what I based the poem on.

For brevity's sake, I chose to write only about my father's ancestorsand left my mom's Irish ancestors out of this one. So I guess I owethem a poem!

So here's my Ode to My Family History:

To the reader who may look Through the pages of this book That deals with the great mystery Of our long family history:

For nearly now four hundred years Our family tree has flourished hereBy strength of heart, and back and handThey made a life in New England.

They cleared the forest with great toilPlanted crops in furrowed soilAnd in each acre that they tilledThe promise of a dream fulflled

For them no glory ever cameBut they were heroes just the sameThe common woman, child and manWho helped to build this New England.

Monday, January 18, 2010

This is the latest in a series of posts about the descendants of thechildren of John Cutter West and Arvilla (Ames) West in the hopesit will put me in contact with some of my unknown distant cousins.

Clarinda Britton West was John and Arvilla's seventh child andthird daughter. As with others of my West great great grand auntsand uncles, I started out with information from my Aunt Dorothyand the Arvilla Ames West Family Bible. But in this instance Ifound little information in online databases to add to what I hadalready:

So I had three vacation days left from 2009 that I had to use up by the endof this month and by combining them with my regular days off(Sunday andThursday) I had five days off this week. The only drawback is that this is theweek after The Week After The Holidays. Bills and rent were paid and mynext paycheck isn't until this Friday, so this has been a Staycation. Thatwas ok by me; it's been cold out there so I'm content to stay here at homefor a few days. I have some genealogy research to keep me busy andI don't believe in cabin fever.

And what have I done this week? Well, since you asked here'sthe highlightsso far:

Sunday: I slept in late. I started gathering my information on Hiram FerdinandWest but took a break to watch the Patriots get hammered by the Ravens.Weeping and gnashing of teeth was heard throughout New England.(Sackclothand ashes was optional). I watched the news and was vaguely troubled by thereport over Leno vs O'Brien . This could have statewide implications since bothare from Massachusetts. Could there be tension building between Andover andBrookline?

I receive the Happy 101 Award from Susi and Terri and work on choosing tenothers to for the award.Then I start searching Ancestry fro Hiram and his descendants,which leads me to MY COUSIN NINFERIA. I go to bed late.

Monday:Slept in late. After breakfast I get back on the search for Hiram over onAncestry. More unique census transcription errors in THE CASE OF ASA F.WESTslow the search a bit. I'm also distracted by the news radio report of a letter fromConan O'Brien that begins "People of Earth..." That explains so much! Especiallythe hair!

I send off corrections on Asa's name to Ancestry and then share records withmy Aunt Dorothy and Hiram's descendant Betty. I get to bed late.

Tuesday: After breakfast I check the news. So far,there are no reports of anybattles between Conanheads from Brookline and Lenoists from Andover. I checkmy freezer to make sure I have adequate supplies just in case conflict breaks out.Afterward I put the finishing touches on my post on Hiram and his descendants.Then I check out the new geneablogs list on Geneabloggers followed by a breakto watch NCIS and some other programs.

I finish up by cross-posting my latest Cousin Quest posts from here over to myblog at the Maine Genealogy Network. I get to bed late

Wednesday: I slept in late.

And that's my Staycation so far. No cabin fever at all, although I may ventureout to the stores tomorrow for necessities.

This is the next in a series of posts on the descendants ofJohn Cutter West and Arvilla Ames West that I hope willlead to contact with other West descendants.

Hiram Ferdinand West was the fourth son and sixth childof John and Arvilla. I had less information to start with onthis branch of the family than the others so far but Ancestrywas very helpful with census records:

Monday, January 11, 2010

Yesterday after I posted about finding a transcription error on Ancestry.com's1910 Federal Census entry for my cousin Hiram Winfield West, I went backto research more of my family. This time I conncentrated on Hiram's brotherAsa Ferdinand West, and once again I found census transcription errorsthat astonished me.

On the 1910 Census, the transcription listsed him as Asa F. Ines.

On the 1920 Census, the transcriber listed him as Asa F. Wicks with AsaF.Wist as an alternate spelling.

And on the 1930 transcription he's Isa F.West

I laughed at first, but then it struck me that someone else researchingAsa might not have the information I already knew and not make theconnection. That's three Census records, a thirty year span in Asa'slife that they might miss because of transcription errors.

This morning I posed this question to my geneablogging friends onFacebook:

"Does anyone know how to inform Ancestry.com about census transcription errors? Do they actually read and act on that little "comment" box? I'd like to make things easier for future researchers of my West family."

Quite a few folks replied almost immediately that they had personal experiencethat Ancestry does indeed act when members submit corrections. So tonight,just before I wrote this post, I sent in corrections on the transcription errorsfor Hiram, Asa, and Cleveland West, and I'll be doing the same for others I'vefound in the past.

Let me be clear,I'm not slamming Ancestry here for the errors.I'm glad theyhave all these records that make my research much easier. Consideringhow many million names out there.there's bound to be errors.So I urgeany of you that are Ancestry members to let them know when you findmistakes such as I did so they can be corrected.

You will help them, and help your fellow genealogy researchers as well

Sunday, January 10, 2010

I was doing my research for the next installment of "Cousin Quest" over atAncestry.com today, this time for the descendants of Hiram Ferdinand West,when I ran across another er....unique....name transcription.

Hiram F. had a son Hiram Winfield(aka Winfield Hiram) and I was looking for himand his family on the 1910 Federal Census. A search on Ancestry directed me toa record for a "Ninferia West", his wife Eva amd his son "Cleanland". I know HiramW.'s son was named Cleveland, so I was pretty sure this was my cousin. Sureenough, a look at the actual image confirmed this was him.The kicker is that the"Ninferia" on the transcription has a "Winfred" in parentheses below it!

I'll be posting this "Cousin Quest" tomorrow or Tuesday this week since I'm ona mini-vacation and want to confirm my findings and information with my newfoundcousin Betty, one of Hiram F.'s descendants before I post them.

And the other day I heard from another cousin, Mark, who's descended fromAsa Atwood West. So perhaps the Cousin Quest will find even more Westdescendants!

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

This was the most challenging installment of Cousin Quest so far.The person who transcribed the BMD records from "GrandmotherWest's Bible" didn't have much information on Vienna's grandchildrenand great-grandchildren.For example, the entry on Winnifred Goodwinincludes the line:

"m C.Frank Thompson-4 sons.One still living on the old homestead.Saw him about a year ago."

Luckily the Family Group sheet that my Aut Dot sent us years agohad more to help fill in the blanks on the grandchildren and Ancestry.comwas useful for the great-grandchildren.Even so I could find no namesfor two sons of Nettie Goodwin and John Farnham. The Federal Censussheets at Ancestry were useful although two transcriptions containederrors. One listed Ichabod Thompson as "Schaberd Thompson"; anotherhad a "Leonidur" Mansell that I believe is Leonidus.

One item that caught my eye was that "Leanidus West Mansell" islisted in the Canadian Soldiers of World War 1 1914-1918 records.I'llhave to look further into that. Maybe someday I'll hear about it fromone of his descendants!

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

This is the latest installment in a series of posts that I hope willput me in touch with more descendants of John Cutter West andhis wife Arvilla (Ames) West.

Vienna Ames West was their fifth child and second daughter.I don't have much information on this branch of the family andhad to fill in some blanks from information I found on Ancestry.com.I'll post some thoughts about all this in my next post.

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Terry Thornton kicks off his "A Poem for Hill Country" seriesfor 2010 with a great poem by Robert Graves that shouldspeak to all of us who are genealogists and family historians.Terry also issues a challenge to us that's based on the poemand that I will try to meet.

I don't have many pictures or documents from my Mom's Irish-Americanfamily. But this particular document and Federal census records helpedgive me a bit of insight into the Mcfarland family history here in America.It's a deed from my granduncle Frank ceding his rights to my grandmotherAgnes (McFarland) White to a building at 946 Parker St in the JamaicaPlain section of Boston,Ma. It had been owned by their mother Anna(Kelley)McFarland and this deed was one of the last stages of the family'spresence on Parker St that spanned almost forty years.

The earliest record I've found of the family being there is the 1910 census.Ten years earlier they'd been recorded as living on Albert St. But in 1910my great grandparents and eight of their children were residents of 950Parker St, not 946. Oldest son Michael apparently was already out livingon his own.Great grandfather John McFarland was an employee of theCity of Boston and with that pay and doubtless contributions from hischildren who were old enough to work, he had gotten a mortgage topurchase 950 Parker St.

There were quite a few changes by 1920. The 950 Parker St addresshad been sold outside the family. Son Michael and his family were rentingat 948 while son Robert and his family rented the adjoining 946. Only thefour daughters were still living with my greatgrandparents, who nowlived at 942 Parker upon which they were paying a mortgage.

Still more changes took place over the next ten years, the most importantbeing the death of my greatgrandfather John in 1924. The 942 Parker St.house had been sold and the 950 Parker St repurchased and valued at$2,800. Greatgrandmother Anna lived there with her youngest daughterWinifred. The next youngest daughter my grandaunt Peggy had marriedLeo McCue and they apparently rented a floor at 950 for $15/month.Michael and his family were still at 946, paying $21/month rent, andRobert was still in the other part of the building $12/month, althoughboth families were enumerated as living at the 946 address.

Based on the deed from my Granduncle Frank to my Grandmother, it looksas though my greatgrandparents were also the owners of the 946-948addresses and rented them out to their children and their families.Eventually all of them would move out on their own, perhaps financed bytheir inheritance when Anna McFarland passed away in 1945. I've noidea what my grandmother Aggie did with her share of 946. Perhaps sheused it to help her own chiildren buy the house on Beach St in Maldenwhere my Uncle Ed and his family lived on the first floor and we lived onthe second floor.

Nothing remains of the houses the McFarlands once owned and lived inon Parker St today. In their place stands the Bromley-Heath Playground.

I'm a day late for Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun over at his Genea-Musings blog but better late than never! Thisweeks assignment is a fun one:

"What was your best Genealogy Moment during 2009? This could be a research find, a fabulous trip, a found family treasure, etc. Your choice!"

This is an easy one for me: the trip up to Maine in August to attendthe Ellingwood Family Reunion in Norway, Me. I got to meetEllingwood cousins such as Bonnie Atkinson and Lori Grippo and Isurvived my first foray at public speaking. I got to spend time withmy Aunt Dorothy and cousin Diana and Gary and my sister Cheryl.We visited the gravesites of John Cutter West and Asa and Florilla(Dunham) Ellingwood and I found the graves of James Dunham andSally(Houghton)Dunham.

Of course it wouldn't have been possible if not for Cheryl. We had fun,including the scenic detour to Wells, Me!

All in all, a great time both family and genealogy terms.The highlightof my 2009!